Evaluating Stress

Outside of work I'm not much of a worrier. I can take things in stride. It's a good thing since I do enough worrying inside of work to last me for a while. Sales and management both bring enough challenges that can present stress if you allow them to. It's interesting that the majority of stress that has historically gotten the best of me is not related to winning or losing a sale. It's actually the execution and customer service after the sale that will get to me. I'm not sure why this is? I can't say there are many cases in which execution and customer service have gone down a negative path. I think it's me being a control freak, and I don't have full control of these aspects of the job. The lack of control likely brings on the stress.

So, recently I have found myself stressing less than I have in the past. Not taking things likely, and not placing less importance. It's actually the same intensity of stress, but for a shorter period of time. In the past, I would have lost a week of sleep. Recently, it will only be two days. After these two days something happens subconciously where I just release the stress (or control) and keep faith that things will work out for the best. I don't walk away, I still work as hard as ever to see it through........I just stress about it far less. I haven't decided yet if this is a good or bad thing.

In evaluating it, I come up with only a few possibilities for the reason this change is occurring:

1. I have full faith that my team will do whatever it takes to execute positively
2. I've learned that effort is the only thing that makes a difference, and stress does not help
3. I've subconciously tried to decrease the amount of stress in my life for the health of me and my family
4. I care less about the final outcome than I used to

I don't know the answer. I can pretty confidently say that it's not #4. I would love for it to be #3, but I'm not so sure. I think it's really a combination of #'s 1 and 2. It's on my radar now, and it will stay there until I can figure out the cause for sure. Sometimes stress is a bi-product of passion. And passion is a competitive edge that I will never be willing to sacrifice.